WASHINGTON – February 2, 2010 – The White House budget proposal released yesterday underscores the President’s continued commitment to increased investment in cancer research, but it underfunds prevention, cancer screening programs and tobacco control programs that fell victim to a tough budget environment.
The President proposed a modest increase for cancer research that will help to maintain progress in the development of innovative treatments and new screening tools, but cut programs that have been documented to save lives through early detection and tobacco cessation.
“To reach the goal of reducing death and suffering related to cancer nationwide, we must sustain funding for public screening programs that already work and invest in areas where we don’t have answers,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). “We look forward to a day when cancer will no longer be a death sentence, and a sustained federal investment is key to reaching that goal.”
The budget proposal would boost cancer research funding by $161 million in fiscal year 2011 over current funding levels – a first step that builds on President Obama’s commitment to double funding for the National Cancer Institute over eight years. But the President’s budget proposal does not sustain the funding increase included in the economic stimulus bill passed last year – a decision that could short-circuit innovative projects that are already underway. Each year, 1.4 million people are told they have cancer, and 560,000 people die from the disease.
The budget also proposes a 2 percent cut to the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) – a program that both offers low-income and uninsured women access to lifesaving cancer screenings, and is already dramatically underfunded, now serving fewer than one in five eligible women under the age of 50 nationally. Additionally, the proposal would cut the budget of the Office of Smoking and Health by more than 3 percent, limiting resources to encourage smokers to quit their deadly habit.
“Applying what we already know, we could prevent 60 percent of cancer deaths,” said Molly A. Daniels, interim president of ACS CAN. “At a time when we have tremendous scientific opportunity, we can’t afford to reverse progress in areas where we’ve made strides against a disease that affects far too many Americans.”
ACS CAN is calling on Congress to reinstate critical funding for cancer prevention and tobacco cessation programs, and to build on the President’s proposal to fund cancer research in a way that sustains funding provided last year in the economic stimulus legislation.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alissa Havens or Steven Weiss
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Phone: (202) 661-5772 or (202) 661-5711
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
